The invention relates to a method for determining the bearing behaviour of displacement piles, which are made by forming a hole by means of a displacing or displacement head and subsequent filling of the hole with a hardenable suspension, while leaving the displacement head in the hole, a test pile being installed and subject to a test load by means of a loading device, the bearing behaviour being measured by a measuring device. The invention also relates to a test setup for determining the bearing behaviour of displacement piles.
It is in many cases necessary for ensuring an adequate bearing capacity when setting up structures to introduce foundation piles into the ground. The bearing capacity of an individual foundation pile is decisively dependent on local soil conditions, so that the bearing behaviour of foundation piles can scarcely be reliably determined using purely theoretical calculations.
It is therefore necessary in many cases for determining the actual bearing behaviour of a displacement pile, to install one or more test piles in the building site. These test piles can then be subject to a predetermined test load and then the corresponding bearing behaviour, particularly settlement of the pile can be measured. For this purpose the test pile is subject to the action of a loading device exerting a predetermined pressure on said test pile. It is necessary in the case of concrete piles for the concrete to have already set and hardened. However, this can last several weeks, so that the determination of the actual bearing behaviour from the start of pile introduction to the end of the test takes up a very considerable amount of time.